2011-12 Edmonton Oilers in Review: Anton Lander

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Anton Lander hockey card

When departing coach Tom Renney said in his classy farewell to Edmonton this week that “I believe I coached with tomorrow in mind as opposed to today and that might have hurt me,” he may well have had Anton Lander in mind.

Lander’s 2011-12 season can perhaps be most positively viewed as an investment in the future. When the 20-year-old Swede arrived in Edmonton, few envisioned him as cracking the opening night line-up, let alone being a regular for the first two-thirds of the season. Ultimately Lander’s first year in North America saw him pile up his first 56 NHL games with the Oilers, then 28 more (including 14 post-season games) with Oklahoma City. He and the Barons were finally eliminated last night in the AHL’s Western Conference Finals.

Before his NHL apprenticeship, Lander had already compiled an impressive resume in his native Sweden. He cracked the Eliteserien at 16, playing four seasons and nearly 200 professional games with Timra Red Eagles with almost 100 more international matches wearing the blue and gold of Tre Kronor. Lauded since early days for his leadership skills, Anton showed steady improvement in his offensive production, posting an NHL 82-game equivalent of 14-20-34 his last season.

To say that offence didn’t translate to North America would be an understatement. Lander’s two goals and six points were disappointing, and his AHL totals of just 3-6-9 in those 28 games don’t fill one with hope that he will ever score at something approaching a top-six level in the NHL.

Of course there is opportunity and then there is opportunity. While he switched at times from his natural centre to wing, Lander rarely rose above fourth-line status. His two most common linemates by far were light-scoring Lennart Petrell and banger Ben Eager. He played as many minutes (55) with Darcy Hordichuk as he did with Jordan Eberle, Taylor Hall, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins combined. He got a semi-regular turn on the penalty-kill but next to nothing on the powerplay. In short, he was given Colin Fraser’s old role and he produced like Colin Fraser.

The Oilers’ deployment of their three young Swedes was something of a puzzle all season. I would have given very long odds against the scenario that unfolded by mid-season, of Lander being the lone NHL survivor while both Magnus Paajarvi and Linus Omark cooled their heels in OKC. In pre-season they had played together on the Tre Kronor line, showing “great and immediate chemistry” in their first game. The Timra combo of Lander and Paajarvi did get an hour and a half of ice time together, during which time Lander’s Corsi percentage of .541 was far higher than with any other semi-regular linemate. Meanwhile, he got barely a minute and a half with Omark, during which time the Oilers fired five shots toward the opposition goal compared to just one against. The tiniest of sample sizes, obviously, but that fact by itself screams the question, why weren’t the Swedes given more time together? I didn’t get it at the time, and still don’t.

QualComp and QualTeam metrics from behindthenet.ca all confirm that Lander played with and against fourth-liners, as he was typically clustered with Petrell, Eager and Hordichuk near the bottom of each category. By stats there was no one category where he stood out: 12th among forwards in games played, 12th in shots on goal, 12th in hits, 12th in blocked shots … His 43.3% in the faceoff circle, while higher than figures posted by recent Oiler rookies like Andrew Cogliano, Sam Gagner, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, suggests another area under construction. He posted modestly decent results on the penalty kill, where he often teamed up with Petrell on the third forward duo behind Belanger/Jones and Horcoff/Smyth.

By eye Lander is an all-ice player with an aptitude for the transition game in both directions. While not a banger per se, he has a strong competitive streak and doesn’t mind getting his nose dirty. He seems especially comfortable battling along the boards and working the puck out from there.

As with many young players, the watchword is “patience”. While Anton Lander has a long way to go, he made an important step in 2011-12. Given his track record of year-over-year development, his skill set as a support player, and his reputation for character and leadership, he remains an important prospect for the Oilers.

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